KUALA LUMPUR (March 22): The international reserves of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) amounted to US$115.2 billion as at March 15, down 0.52% from US$115.8 billion as at Feb 28.

In a statement on Tuesday (March 22), the central bank said the reserves position is sufficient to finance 6.0 months of imports of goods and services and is 1.2 times total short-term external debt.

According to BNM, the main components of the international reserves were foreign currency reserves, which stood at US$102 billion, the International Monetary Fund reserves position at US$1.4 billion, special drawing rights (SDRs) amounting to US$6 billion and gold at US$2.3 billion, followed by other reserve assets at US$3.5 billion.

Assets comprising gold, foreign exchange and other reserves including SDRs amounted to RM479.79 billion, followed by Malaysian government papers (RM12.2 billion), deposits with financial institutions (RM779.94 million), loans and advances (RM23.34 billion), land and buildings (RM4.16 billion), and other assets (RM16.85 billion).

Capital and liabilities comprising paid-up capital amounted to RM100 million, followed by reserves (RM169.42 billion), currency in circulation (RM151.77 billion), deposits by financial institutions (RM162.47 billion), federal government deposits (RM6.57 billion), other deposits (RM5.52 billion), BNM papers (RM7.69 billion), allocations of SDRs (RM28.15 billion) and other liabilities (RM5.41 billion).